Omaha daily bee., 1887-08-12
THE OMAHA DAILY BEE FRIDAY. AUGUST 12. 1887
FARM, FIELD AND GARDEN.
Some Experience in the Cultivation ofSilk
in the West and the Results.
THE ART OF BUTTER MAKING
The Quantity OF MIX Required.-Oas
Straw for Stock..various Mat.
ters of Interest for tho
Farmers.
silk Raising in the West.

silk Raising in the West.
NAPERvILLE, ILL.,, Aug. 3.-[Editor of
the Chicago Tribune. lin consideration
of the prevailing interest now felt in silk
raising IN the west, and of the attention
which the Tribune has been giving to the
matter. / venture to communicate from
my own personal knowledge some facts
in the history OF the earliest successful
efforts to rear silkworms and to manu-.
facture silk in the west. In 1927, my father,
Daniel Roe, at Dayton o., procured from
the patent Office q few tho usand silk
worms eggs for experiment. When
warm weather arrived he took the eggs
from an ice house, where they had been
deposited to prevent premature Matching,
placed them where they received the in
direct rays of the sun, and in due time
was rewarded with living worms almost
as numerous as the eggs; but few failed
to hatch. They were healthy and hun
cry. And how he watched over, fed,
and cared for the little fellows until they
had eaten their fill of wild mulberry
leaves ana grown to full size, and had
hidden tn emselves away in silken CO.
coOns is vivid memory to me still,
though it happened sixty years ago.
Enthusiastic over his first experiment,
which resulted SO successfully, he now
made arrangements to procure for the
next year-through the patent Office as
before-two millions of eggs. In the
meantime he studied the whole subject
of silkwOrm rearing and the manufac-
ture of silk with untiring devotion. The
literature of the subject was at that time
meagre indeed but cyclopedias were
searched, accessible libraries overhauled,
correspondence opened with other in
quirers, and much information of gen.
eral nature obtained. but so little that
was specific and adapted to the local eli
mate and the native food for the worms
that MIR. Roe was compelled to take the
chances and in great degree to feel his
way in the dark.
In the spring of 1928 he hired an old
church edliice facing the canal basin.
fitted 1t up with shelves and hurdles, and
got ready for his two million of worms.
They came in due season, lived and
throve on wild mulberry leaves, eating
eighty pounds per day for the last week
their cocoons in good condition. The
leaves on which these worms were fed
were gathered in the woods III the vlcin-
ity of Dayton and came from two species
of native mulberry.
After the worms had passed into the
chrysalis state few were allowed to pro-
duce moths to supply eggs tor the next
year; and the rest were killed by baking,
to preserve the silk fibre unbroken.
Now came the mechanical difficulties.
Machinery was to be invented and con-
structed to wind the silk from the CO.
coons, to reel 1t properly onto spoois for
the weaver, and a loom devised and con-
structed upon which to do the weaving.
MIR. Roe invented all these and aided in
their construction. A Frenchman familiar
with the business was found who put the
reeled silk into the loom and wove 200
yards of heavy silk handkerchiefs. And
that was the end of my fathers silk ex-
periments. Did he make any money?
Not cent. He did not try to make
money, but to make silk, and that he did.
The handkerchiefs were disposed of to
the curious at So each.
1t may be stated IN conclusion that
there was then no market for cocoons
anywhere in the United States, which led
the manufacture of the silk by the pro-
ducer. But one thing was fully demon
strated. The leaf of the native mulberry
and the climate of central Ohio are well
suited to the production of silk.
Quantity of Milk teQuired for Butter.
Philadelphia Record. How much milk
is required to make one pound of butter
depends upon so many circumstances AS
to render 1t impossible to estimate upon
any certain quantity rs the proper pro-
portion. No two breeds of cattle posse IS
the same qualifications, and there is no
herd of one breed made up of COWS .of
like capacity for either milk or butter.
10 n oh hsfo
when some particular cow may be Sc
lected for experiment in the production
of milk and butter she will fail to give a
uniform quantity of milk of the same
| quality from one day to another. The
| seasons influence the yield, as Is shown
| by the trial of COW selected for purposes
of experiment. Allowing two pounds OF
milk to represent one quart, the record
shows that in January from 10 pounds
produced, while in February pound
of butter was made from ID pounds Of
milk. These months being winter
| months, when green food is usually
scarce, it would naturally be supposed
that IN summer the COW would give a
larger quantity of butter from given
| quantity of milk than she would in win
ter. but her record was 81 pounds of mill
to pound of butter in March, 10 pounds
/
and % pounds OF milk for pound Of
butter in May. The quantity of milk re
| quired to produce pound of butter dur
ing the remainder OF the year was: Fol
June, "a pounds; July, 80 pounds, August
90 pounds; September. % pounds; Octo
ber, 18 pounds; November, 16 pounds
and December, 10 pounds. 1t does no
imply that during the summer season tn,
quantity of milk yielded by the COW wa'
less than that yielded in winter. but tina
it was not as rich as cream. These
changes were effected, not by the quan.
tity OF the food but by its quality, as tn,
COW had abundant pasturage in June
although it required tifty.four pounds o
milk to produce one pound of butter dur
ing that month. November to Marct
are periods of the year when COWS are
fed on concentrated food, and conse
quently they receive more attention from
the daIryman. The yield of milk may b.
less, but the proportionate quantity o
butter may be greater. The time of calv
ing also affects the quality, while thu
severity of the cold. as we'll as the shelter
| and s,rotaotiOn uivan must alaO ho onn